The Winner of the Green Carnation Prize 2015

After several hours of deliberation the Green Carnation judges have chosen their winner which has just been announced by the Chair of Judges Niven Govinden at an event in Foyles flagship store. And the winner is…

Marlon James has won The Green Carnation Prize 2015 with his third novel A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Jamaica, 1976 seven gunmen storm Bob Marley’s house, machine guns blazing. The reggae superstar survives, but the gunmen are never caught. From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes a dazzling display of masterful storytelling exploring this near-mythic event. Spanning three decades and crossing continents, A Brief History of Seven Killings chronicles the lives of a host of unforgettable characters – slum kids, one-night stands, drug lords, girlfriends, gunmen, journalists, and even the CIA. Gripping and inventive, ambitious and mesmerising, A Brief History of Seven Killings is one of the most remarkable and extraordinary novels of the twenty-first century.

Director of the prize, Simon Savidge said “Having been a fly on the wall of many judges meetings I don’t think I have seen any discussions of shortlist to winner that have caused such lively debate. The strength of the shortlist, and indeed the longlist, this year once again shows that there are many, many fantastic books being written by LGBT authors that stretch a whole spectrum of themes, ideas, places and subjects.”

On winning the prize Marlon James said “I am so thankful to the prize, the judges and Foyles to be announced the winner in the prizes sixth year; six years ago I would not have been able to voice that I was LGBT, so to be recognised for that and for work the judges felt was great is fantastic.”

The Green Carnation Prize is a prize awarded to LGBT writers for any form of the written word, from memoir to fiction, poetry to non-fiction between October 2014 and September 2015. This year has seen the growth of the prize, to encompass works of translation, which only can be encouraged by a partnership with Foyles. The partnership sees Foyles offer event space in their new flagship store, with public events celebrating the prize to follow in 2016.

Announcements for the Green Carnation Prize 2016 will also be made in the spring, for updates on the prize please follow @TheGCPrize on Twitter.